Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Saturday Mornings
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
29 Mar 2023
Saturday Mornings
Caffie Greene

                                                                                                                    Saturday Mornings                                                                                                  

                                                                                                             “Poetry is always dissident.”

                                                                                                                      —Octavio Paz

 

There was muted Miles when we

Woke Saturday mornings—

when we rose from slumber

to scents of sausage, potatoes,

bacon, eggs, coffee.

There was muted Miles when we

Woke to waffle scents wafting

from the Sunbeam waffle iron.

Maybe manicures and pedicures

post-breakfast? Maybe the barber

would pick us up on his way to

work for close-cropped hair and

nourishing adult ear worms?

Maybe I’d be pitching? Brother

Steve catching—or vacuuming

shots up from second base?

My Mother could organize

All that— rip off apron and gavel

meetings to order; pull picket lines

together; run California campaigns

for assembly and senatorial seats—

Or, settle long-simmering disputes…

No cape. No “S” on her chest. No

unusual way of getting around. She

was just Mom.

Crazy Mom inviting me to attend

some meeting with her. My reply:

“I don’t wanna go to your political meetings

I just wanna play Little League Baseball!”

Her muted Miles response, “Everything is

Political…

How do you think your park got there?

How do you think your coach got hired?”

© 2023. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

 

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at: GoFundMe and PayPal.

Los Angeles
Black Liberation Movement

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Adam Mahoney
From Watts to D.C.: How 500 Black Neighborhoods Vanished in 45 Years
02 July 2025
America’s gentrified neighborhoods have lost 500,000 Black people, while gaining residents of every other race, a study finds.
Lexis-Olivier Ray
Black People Make Up 75% Of All Weed Arrests At LAX, Data Shows
16 April 2025
Roughly a third of the people who were arrested by LAPD in the city of Los Angeles for cannabis-related offenses since 2020 were arrested in We
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
The fire this time … (as Amiri tolt me)
29 January 2025
“Scratch a lie—find a thief !”
Sekou Odinga
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Sekou Odinga Has Joined the Ancestors But the Spirit of the Black Liberation Army And African Resistance Lives On!
17 January 2024
A commemoration of the life of comrade Sekou Odinga, a lifelong New African revolutionary, former political prisoner, and unstoppable force in
Ralph Poynter delivered a solidarity message from Lynne Stewart
Lallan Schoenstein
Ralph Poynter Used His Strong Voice and Stout Heart to Fight for Justice
10 January 2024
Ralph Poynter was a pioneer in the fight against white supremacy, oppression, and injustice around the world.
The State's Constant Attack on Black Liberation
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The State's Constant Attack on Black Liberation
12 July 2023
Indictments, disruptions, arrests, defamation, incarceration and even assassination are the weapons used to discredit Black people who act
Mourning Mutulu Shakur and the Black Radical Tradition that Modernized America
Jon Jeter
Mourning Mutulu Shakur and the Black Radical Tradition that Modernized America
12 July 2023
The late Mutulu Shakur and other Black radicals were responsible for improving the lives of millions of people in the U.S.
 BAR Book Forum: Damien M. Sojoyner’s Book, “Joy and Pain”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Damien M. Sojoyner’s Book, “Joy and Pain”
11 January 2023
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book.
Colia Clark Presente!
Kim Ives
Colia Clark Presente!
16 November 2022
Colia Clark was a veteran of the Black Liberation Movement who worked with Medgar Evers, who was also affiliated with the NAACP and who se
Grandstanding: Mayoral Candidate Karen Bass Says She Can Solve LA’s Homelessness Crisis
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Grandstanding: Mayoral Candidate Karen Bass Says She Can Solve LA’s Homelessness Crisis
27 July 2022
As the late Glen Ford said, the Black misleadership class has no shame.

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Zionist Shakedown
    06 Aug 2025
    Israel is a genocidaire apartheid state silencing critics around the world through threats, intimidation, lawfare, and accusations of antisemitism to prevent facing justice through international…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Attica Then and Now! Acklyn R. Lynch, 1971
    06 Aug 2025
    “The men at Attica were prepared to die for the democratic principles not only enunciated in their Manifesto, but experienced in their revolt…”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eritrea: We Won’t Kneel Down
    06 Aug 2025
    Eritrean Americans celebrated their 51st Eritrean Festival and their home country’s resolute independence from August 1 to 3, 2025.
  • Jon Jeter
    Stagflation Returns, Shining a Spotlight on the Federal Reserve’s War on the Working Class
    06 Aug 2025
    History exposes the Fed's inflation fight for what it truly is: a decades-long class war waged against working people under the guise of monetary policy.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    There is no starvation
    06 Aug 2025
    "There is no starvation" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us